Page 57 of Bear Protector
“Walk with me, Chosen,” he instructed. Giving his guards a brief nod, he started back to the entrance of the fortress.
Kiera followed, and noticed the guards did not accompany her or the Chancellor. “Why would you put the region at risk this way?” she asked.
“I am not, dear. You are.”
“How can you say such a thing when I’m trying to warn you and your guards? The destroyers are coming!”
“I know they are,” he said in a low voice. “I believe you, but it does not change the fact that you are the one threatening the lives of each and every citizen in the region. I will make an example of you and your lover, and anyone who has had a hand in this treason. I want you to listen carefully. I know everything. You dared to defy me, to disobey your vows as the Chosen, and to stand against the region and everything we have come to value. But there is still time to atone for your wrongdoing and make things right.”
“I will not turn this year’s shifters, your Eminence,” she said calmly. “I refuse to be party to your tyranny. I will not transform men who were never given the choice to serve, and I will not sacrifice my life by participating in an unnecessary ritual. We have found other means to fight the destroyers, yet you insist on this deception. The region will soon know that you have lied to us all.”
“No, my dear, innocent girl. You will get a message to your familiar, and you will have Commander Oslo gather the men scheduled to be turned. They must all report to the Great Hall within one hour. And you are going to perform the transformation spell. Tonight.”
“I will not.”
“Trust me when I tell you that you will.” He called over to the guard who had arrived with him bearing the torch. They made eye contact, and the Chancellor gave him a gesture.
On that signal, two guards approached the cowering prisoners, and dragged an older man to his feet.
“What are you doing with him?” Kiera asked.
“Summon your familiar,” the Chancellor ordered her. “Now.”
Before she could say another word, the guards lifted the man high and swung his legs over the side of the battlement walls.
“No!” Kiera screeched. Her eyes widened with horror. “You can’t do that! You can’t kill a man in cold blood.” The prisoner screamed, desperately begging for his life as they held his body over the edge with his feet dangling at least seventy feet off the ground below. “Please, your Eminence! Don’t do this!”
“Call your familiar,” he repeated. “I will not ask again.”
“Okay, I will do it!” She squeezed her eyes shut and connected to Coco, beckoning her to fly back to the fortress immediately. “I have called for her,” she announced. “Now please, stop. Let him go.”
It was evident to her then. If the Chancellor would go to these lengths to force her hand, he really was still in control.
“Be sure she gets the message to Xander as well.”
“She knows what I know now,” Kiera confirmed, eyes still fixed on the prisoner as he hung suspended off the side of the wall.
“Good.” The Chancellor took Kiera’s chin in his hand and turned her face forcefully so she could look up at him. “I am glad we understand each other.” Without releasing her, he looked over at his guards and gave another quick nod. He turned her around to face them, and the second her eyes adjusted their focus, the guards dropped the desperate, pleading, squirming man off the edge.
“No!” she screamed, horrified. Minassus had still executed the old man. “I did what you asked!” she cried, tears streaming down her face as she became aware of the sobs, groans and despondent, fearful whimpering of the remaining prisoners.
“Have your familiar inform Commander Oslo that if he’s not in the Great Hall with the men within one hour, his mother will be next.”
“But they are already on their way to the west of the region to help prepare the outer walls before the destroyers arrive,” she implored. “They may already be too far away from the Great Hall. Why make them turn back now?”
“This is not a negotiation,” he told her firmly. Then he turned and left, returning inside the fortress.
Kiera slumped over, hanging on to the side walls for support as she struggled to stop the tears. She swallowed down the bile that had made it up to the back of her throat, barely conscious of the guards who were coming toward her. One of them gripped her by the arm and led her back to the prisoners.
Kiera did not have the chance to get all the way across the walkway. A violent force pushed her backward, then another that was not as fierce, and yet another. She fell to the ground, and the guard stared down at her curiously as her body convulsed.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” the guard asked.
She closed her eyes when the last jolt of energy hit her, then slowly took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. Fear and uncertainty were replaced by rage, pure awareness and conviction.
Kiera got to her feet. She knew what she had to do.
This time, it was the guard who jumped backward. “But your eyes,” he stammered, full of fear now. “And your hair. You are glowing…everywhere. Jesus Christ! Your feet are not touching the floor!”
